People converting black money into white will not be spared: FM Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Giving a stern warning to those who were converting black money into white, the Finance Ministry on Friday said that the trails were being watched by the income tax officials and a coordinated action was underway.

“Those indulging in or colluding with money laundering or converting black money into white will not be spared,” Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said in a tweet.

“Trails being pursued by agencies. Coordinated action underway. Result already visible. Will be more visible in coming days,” he said in another tweet.

Meanwhile, Das told reporters on Monday that demonetisation has led to excess cash in the system which was being tackled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

“It is a situation of excess liqudity and the RBI is managing it. It is definitely on the higher side,” he told reporters here.

To manage surplus liquidity, the central government, on RBI’s advice, on Friday revised upwards the ceiling for issue of securities under the Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS) to Rs 6,00,000 crore.

In June 2016, the ceiling for the outstanding balance under MSS for 2016-17 was fixed at Rs 30,000 crore.

In another measure to absorb a part of this surplus liquidity, the RBI on November 26 had announced additional cash reserve ratio (CRR) of 100 per cent for banks on the increase in net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) between September 16, 2016 and November 11, 2016.

The additional CRR directive came into effect from November 26.

Simply put, CRR is the percentage of the total deposit that banks have to keep with RBI.

The RBI will review the incremental CRR on December 9 to decide the future course.